Gambell (GAM-bull)[4] (Central Siberian Yupik: Sivuqaq)[5] is a city[3][6] in the Nome Census Area of the U.S. state of Alaska.

St. Lawrence Island has been inhabited sporadically for the past 2,000 years by both Alaskan Yup'ik and Siberian Yupik people.

The Reformed Episcopal Church had not been able to find missionaries willing to live on St. Lawrence Island, so the building built for the mission was left unoccupied.

He spoke to the Reverend Vene and Nellie Gambell, of Wapello, Iowa, about moving to St. Lawrence Island.

In the spring of 1898, on the return journey to St. Lawrence Island, their ship sank in a storm and 37 people on it drowned, including the Gambells and their daughter.

On June 22, 1955, during the Cold War, a US Navy P2V Neptune with a crew of 11 was attacked by two Soviet fighters in international waters over the Bering Straits between Siberia and Alaska, and crashed near Gambell.

The Soviet government "expressed regret in regard to the incident", adding that "taking into account... conditions which do not exclude the possibility of a mistake from one side or the other," it was willing to compensate the US for 50% of damages sustained—the first such offer ever made by the Soviets for any Cold War shootdown incident.

[7] Gambell and Savoonga received joint title to most of St. Lawrence Island under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act of 1971.

It was an unusual and dangerous trip; Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy said he did not expect a continual stream of other arrivals.

[8] US Senator for Alaska Lisa Murkowski later revealed that the two refugees were members of a group indigenous to Siberia.

[9] Gambell is on the northwest cape of St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea, 325 km (202 mi) southwest of Nome.

The climate features long, frigid and snowy winters alongside short cool summers.

Compared to most northern hemisphere polar climates, Gambell is relatively moderate, featuring only discontinuous permafrost and despite the freezing of the Bering Sea less frigid winters than typical for Asia and North America at similar latitudes.